African-Americans & World War II Double V or Win the War First?
Transcript
Slide 1
African-Americans & World War II Double V or Win the War
First?
Slide 2
KKK lynching
Slide 3
Lynching Average of 56 blacks lynched in US between 1882 and
1935. Congress refused to pass anti-lynching bill.
Slide 4
Conditions in US in 1940 Jim Crow laws 3,000 blacks lynched
1882-1935 Congress refused to pass anti-lynching One black member
in Congress Limited voting rights Discrimination in every aspect of
American life--sports to armed services
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A Unified US in WWII? Whites unified in desire for victory
Blacks wanted victory and end to racism 38% believed end to racism
in US more important than defeating Germany 18% said Japanese would
treat them better than Americans
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Black and the press White newspapers rarely reported any news
from the Black community Unless it concerned a crime To white
Americans Black community did not exist Most considered Blacks
inferior in all ways to whites Not just a Southern
point-of-view
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Black media Pittsburgh Courier---350,000 Chicago
Defender--230,000 Baltimore Afro-American--170,000 Norfolk
Journal--100,000 Black press demanded a Double V-- victory against
fascism abroad and at home
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Pittsburgh Courier--most militant Long series comparing Nazi
racism with racism in Georgia Only difference was that the Nazis
were trying to do what was common place in Georgia Of course that
wasnt true and the paper didnt know about the Holocaust But the
point was how do you fight for freedom if you dont have
freedom
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When Black press reported on real racial conditions in the
South When it reported on Black soldiers being beaten at Southern
bases When it reported the details of war industry factories
refusing to hire blacks The reaction of the federal government was
to investigate the press for sedition FBI--J. Edgar Hoover was
especially determined to prove press disloyal
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Robert Vann, Pitt. Courier Robert Abbott, Chicago Defender
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WWII a white mans war Why should I shed my blood for FDRs
America, for Cotton Ed Smith and Senator Bilbo, for the whole Jim
Crow, Negro hating South for low paid jobs, dirty jobs for which
Negroes have to fight, for the few dollars of relief and the
insults, discrimination, policy brutality, and perpetual poverty to
which Negroes are condemned even in the more liberal North.
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Black Newspapers WWII Ted Carrell Amsterdam New York Star
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Charles Alston, Chicago Bee, 1943
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George Mercer, Baltimore Afro-American, 1942
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Double V Campaign
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Internal migration
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Job discrimination
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Discrimination in war factories Vultee Air factory: It is not
the policy of this company to employ other than of the Caucasian
race. Standard Steel of Kansas City: We have never had a Negro
worker in 25 years and dont intend to start now. But both did have
to start to hire black workers
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A Philip Randolph
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FEPC FDR Executive Order # 8802 Alabama rejected a war contract
No enforcement provisions But simple math created new democracy War
production needed workers and black and women filled the call
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Black War Workers
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Slide 23
Race Riots--1943 Americans maul and murder each other as Hitler
wins a battle in the nations most explosive city
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34 blacks killed but police only arrested blacks
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White mob roams city
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Race riots in Detroit, New York 4 days in Zoot Suit Los
Angeles
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Langston Hughes Looky here, America What you done done-- Let
things drift Until the riots come. Now you policeman Let the mobs
run free; I reckon you dont care Nothing about me You tell me that
hitler Is a mighty bad man I guess he took lessons From the ku kulx
klan You jim crowed me Before hitler rose to power And youre STILL
jim crowing me Right now, this very hour Yet you say were fighting
For democracy
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The Armed Forces Baltimore Afro-American 1943
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Beaumont, Texas mob attacked blacks Martial law In Marianna,
Florida black taken from jail and beaten to death A black soldier
shot to death after refusing to ride in the back of a bus
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Armed Forces Nowhere was discrimination against blacks more
troubling that in the armed forces Navy--only as a cook or messman
Marines--not allowed Army Air Force--no In 1940 4,700 blacks in
service--all in segregated units--by 1943 500,000 blacks in the
army
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But Was it?
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Jim Horton Im just a Negro soldier Fighting for Democracy A
thing Ive often heard of But very seldom see... They expect me to
be loyal But in my heart Im not For how can a second-class citizen
Be a first class patriot?
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Discrimination in Armed Forces
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Selective Service Director Lewis Hershey What we are doing, of
course, is simply transferring descrimination from everyday life
into the army. But discrimination already in the armed forces
Slide 36
General Ben O. Davis West Point--no one would talk Commander of
332nd--the Tuskegee flyers Flew 60 missions The 332nd lost only 25
bombers in over 200 missions
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Tuskegee Airmen
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Slide 39
Southern Camps/Northern Soldiers White officers--black soldiers
Separate training facilities Poor housing, bad rations No r&r
for black soldiers in Southern towns White MPs regularly beat black
soldiers Black guards took German POWs to local restaurants--but
could not go in Race riots on army bases throughout the south
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White soldiers refused to salute black officers Separate PX and
water fountains Yet by end of the war more than 1 million blacks
served 1940 2 black officers--1945 7,000
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Black medics at Normandy, 1944
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Soldiers
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Conditions for Black Pilots Segregation enforced--only white
officers could train black flyers Black pilots could not fly to or
from fields where white pilots were stationed Black and white
pilots could not fly together Not until 1943/1944 did Tuskegee
pilots see action in Europe Did an outstanding job--film Tuskegee
Airman (1995) Laurence Fishburne does an excellent job of showing
racial hated of black pilots by whites